Unit One: Assignment
Assignment #1: “German” Art or Art of the World?
due Tuesday, August 2 at the start of class PRINTED
Double-spaced, 12-point font (Times New Roman or similar), 1000 – 1250 words
20% of final grade
Prompt: Choose one object from the image bank, listed as thumbnails below, for Unit One. After describing it in detail—including its historical context—analyze your object from two perspectives. First, argue how your object might reflect a specifically “German” character. Then, argue how it might reflect a more universal philosophical ideal and/or something more international and modern. In your conclusion, explain which argument you find stronger and why. If you think both arguments are equally compelling, please write about that.
Take some of the following aspects of your object into consideration when you make your two arguments. (These top four must be included in your description.)
- title (or titles)
- artist biography
- year(s) it was made
- medium
- size
- location (if that is relevant, as for a monument)
- time period, in general
- subject matter
- style
- where / how it was exhibited
- audience reception
- artist influences
- artist intentions
- social realities
- prejudices
- cultural precedent
- etc.
Other requirements: Incorporate quotations or paraphrases from at least two required readings. (You may substitute one optional reading, if you like.) Feel free to include lecture and discussion material or any outside sources. A bibliography is not required. However, you must use a single citation-format consistently. Please use Chicago, MLA or APA.
Please title your paper with the name of the object you have selected. (You do not need to include a separate title page.) List two other objects that you think have some relation (either positive or negative) to the one you chose. Explain in one or two sentences what that relationship is. (Word Count does not include these sentences.)
Refer to this template for formatting instructions.
Print, photocopy, or attach the original pages from your Reading Journal to the back of your paper. Complete and attach the “Requirements Checklist” to the front of your paper.
Return to Unit One Information.
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